Snippets of Life: the short stories of a band geek
by musiclover9
Summary: If there's any group in high school that's misunderstood, it's the band geeks. However, it seems that this is how they want it to be. Join the Hillsborough marching band gang on their marching band adventures. Stories based of true events.
1. Hugs

**So I find the marching band part of this site which I think is pretty much the coolest thing ever. So I decided to write done some of my own experiences in marching band using a character to experience them all. Their stories that I'm sure some of you can relate to. It's not really a story, but rather mini stories with the same charcters and names and such, but I will write them in a cohesive order so as not to confuse anyone. It starts at the beginning of my own and the character's marching band experience. The chapter titles do have relevance to the chapters even if at first it doesn't seem like they do.**

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**1. Hugs**

It was the first time that she had ever entered the band room. It was larger than she expected. Its shape was that of a simple rectangle. The walls were lined with lockers of all different sizes to fit the many different instruments. She was greeted by a guy wearing a Beatles shirt. She noticed that with his right arm he was cradling a trombone.

"What section are you looking for?" he asked.

"The piccolos…" her voice was quiet. It could hardly be heard over the sounds of other members of the band warming up.

The Beatle-shirt guy pointed to the other side of the room with his free hand. She followed his point to see a group of girls sitting in a row of chairs. She thanked him and then headed in that direction. She was not there long when two girls came jumping up to her. One was extremely pale with many freckles, while the other looked to be Indian being very tan the exact opposite of her friend.

"Are you a piccolo?" the paler one asked excitedly.

"Yeah…" she responded nervously.

Both girls seemed to jump for joy. The darker one came closer and gave her a huge hug. She stood awkwardly as the girl hugged her. The two girls then mentioned there names but she was still in shock.

"What's your name?" the paler one asked her.

"Chelsea…" she said quietly.

"Great!" the paler one said and then led her over to a seat in between two girls. She pointed to the girl on the right. The girl appeared shorter and had shortish black hair. "This is Alex." She said and then point to the girl on the left. This girl had golden hair. "This is Laura. Alex…Laura, this is Chelsea." With that the girl left Chelsea to sit in the seat between Alex and Laura.

"Hi!" both said cheerily. The paler girl came back holding a small pile of music. She placed it on the stand and then left to go sit in her own seat. Chelsea glanced at the music. Half of it was warm-ups, but the other half was the music of the new marching band season. It read "Carmen" at the top.

The first rehearsal went quickly. At the end Chelsea exited the band room and went into her mom's car.

"Well?" her mother asked. "How was it?"

Chelsea remained silent for a moment. "Some girl hugged me and I still don't know her name." was her response. Her mother laughed and started the car.

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**A/N: the chapters will all be pretty short seeing as they're just short stories that I thought were amusing and important during the marching band seasons. So I hope you like the first installment. Let me know by reviewing!**


	2. No Pictures Please

**2. No pictures please…**

The sign on the blackboard read "Uniforms: Seniors – Aug. 11,

Juniors – Aug. 13, Sophomores – Aug. 18, Freshmen – Aug. 20. An hour before rehearsal."

Chelsea entered the practically empty band room. In one of the corners of the room there was a short line by the guard room. She went to the back of the line. Her mother stood some ways away from her. Soon her turn came to enter the guard room.

She had never been in the room before. It had long poles stretching across two of the walls. On the smaller wall were many of the old guard costumes. On the long wall were at least a fifty or more marching band uniforms. She stared at them.

A shorter woman introduced herself as Mrs. Plummer; then she asked for Danielle's name. "Chelsea Julius," she said. Mrs. Plummer began shifting through a small stack of papers.

Finally she pulled out one sheet. Then peering closely at Chelsea she judged her size before pulling a uniform from the long row. She handed it to Chelsea. "The pants go on first. They're like overalls. Most girls wear shorts or something under them because they can be itchy. Try them on now."

Chelsea pulled the black overalls over her jean shorts and put her arms through the loops. Mrs. Plummer zipped them up to conserve time. "Fine…fine…" she murmured to herself. Then outloud to Chelsea she said, "This is the jacket. You need to unbutton the cape to get the jacket on. When getting ready, you'll need someone to help you get this on because the buttons are in the back. Then they'll need to button the cape on for you."

She helped Chelsea into the traditional looking red jacket with brass buttons. Then Mrs. Plummer grabbed the white cape and buttoned it on.

Chelsea's mom now stood in the doorway to the guard room along with an older girl who appeared to be a marching band veteran. Her mom laughed. Then taking out her cell phone she asked, "Can I take a picture?"

Chelsea looked at her mother embarrassed. "No mom! No pictures."

The girl standing next to Chelsea's mother laughed. "It's so unisex isn't?" she asked Chelsea. All Chelsea could do was nod her head. The girl laughed again and then turning to Chelsea's mom she said, "Don't worry. There'll be plenty of opportunities to take pictures." Chelsea looked horrified for a moment before sighing.

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**A/N: For any girl those uniforms are embarassing at first. So there's not much to say but to review as always.**


	3. Tumor

**3. Tumor**

Ten girls sat in the basement of one of their sectionleader's, Karen, house. Some were slumped on her couch. Others were sitting on the floor leaning against the same couch. And still others were sitting cross-legged on the floor. All had empty plates in front of them and empty pizza boxes could be seen on a small card table in the corner of the room. The only light in the room was coming from the T.V. The group was watching Close Encounters of a Third Kind.

"That right there looks like a cookie." Said the other sectionleader, Priyanka. The girls laughed. "Great!" she exclaimed. "Now I really want a cookie." She looked over at Karen.

Karen got the message. "I think I have some Chips-Ahoy upstairs." She climbed over six of the girls and disappeared up the stairs. She returned with a pack of cookies. She held them up triumphantly. Once again the girls laughed.

Karen handed the pack to Priyanka. Priyanka grabbed the a few out of the pack and then passed to the girl on her right. The Chips-Ahoy made their made across the room.

When they were finished with the cookies their attention turned once again to the movie that they were watching. On the screen, there were three people climbing a mountain.

"Look!" Priyanka said suddenly. "That one guy has a rip in the back of his pants." The girls again broke out into peals of laughter.

When the laughter died done one of the freshman, Paige, suddenly spoke it up. "It could be a rip…or it could be a tumor." Everyone turned and looked at her completely surprised at what she had just said. Then they laughed.

"A tumor?" one of the girls asked. Paige nodded causing all of them to laugh hysterically. Paige was laughing with them.

"That was great Paige…" said another one of the girls in between fits of laughter.

"Okay that U.F.O totally looks like a chocolate chip cookie." Priyanka burst out after the laughing had stopped.

"What is it with you and food Priyanka?" asked Karen over the large amount of laughter. Priyanka just smiled and laughed with the rest.

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**A/N: Now honest to God this really did happen. I'm not even joking. It was my first sectional ever and one of the girls made the tumor comment and all I could think was "what the hell am I getting my self into?" Now me and that girl are really good friends and once you get to know her these comments seem normal when coming from her. I will ask as always to review.**


	4. Plumbing

**4. Plumbing**

The bus ride had been long, but the band director, Jules began practice as soon as the band arrived at Lake Greeley. It was at least eleven when they ended and everyone started heading back to see their cabins for the first time. The piccolos, having gotten one cabin for their entire section, left the field as one large group. They were tired, but still excitedly chatting among themselves discussing all the accomplishments that they made during their first day of band camp. They talked about how Jules seemed pretty pleased with the progress the band had made during their hours on the field. Finally they hit the circle of square, wooden cabins. It took them awhile in the dark to find the list on one of the cabin doors signifying which cabin was theirs. When they found it they rushed up the set of seven wooden stairs that led to their door. Priyanka, who had been leading the pack along with Karen, opened the door that led into what would be their home for the next five grueling days.

Chelsea peered in curiously before actually crossing into the threshold. There were five beds lined along the wall across from the door which were separated by a tiny bookcase looking dressers that were also along the wall in-between the beds. On the right there was one swinging door that looked like the kind found at the local saloons in the old western movies. Behind the door was the bathroom. Chelsea didn't bother to look in there yet, but instead stepped further into the room. On the wall found on the same side of the room as the wall were lined three beds just like the other side including the dressers. The only difference was the fact that not only were there three regular beds but there was also one bunk bed. Next to the bunk bed were two of the dressers found by the other beds stacked one on top of the other. They girls stacked their territory by throwing their various duffel bags, sleeping bags, and pillows onto the beds they wanted. Chelsea ended up between Karen and a sophomore newbie, Caitlin. They settled into their small area rather quickly. The shower order was quickly called. Karen started the chain and entered the bathroom to begin her quick shower. Jules and Mr. F enter the cabin for bed check. When first introducing Mr. F. to the newbies Jules had said that Mr. F. was a band parent who never left. Everyone loved him and it was easy to see why. Shortly after they left, people started running to the bathroom to pee. "Ugh," a groan could be heard from the bathroom. Alex, a sophomore first piccolo, exited the bathroom annoyed. "The stupid toilet is clogged!"

"Isn't there a plunger?" Paige asked.

"I don't think so. I mean I didn't notice one." Alex replied. The two walked back into the bathroom together. They came out a few minutes later to report that there was no plunger.

"We'll tell Mr. F. in the morning." Karen said simply

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The next morning came with water all over the floor of the bathroom. "Ummm…guys." Alyssa, another sophomore piccolo, shouted from the bathroom. "If you're gonna come into the bathroom to shower you might want to wear shoes or flip-flops or something." The piccolos already awake and moving went in to see how bad it really was.

A series of "Ewwwww" and "Gross!" came from the group of them. Mr. F. fixed it, but by the end of the day it was clogged again.

"Damn it! It's going to be a hell of a long band camp." Karen muttered when the she heard it was clogged once again.

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**A/N: And it was a long band camp. We had to use the neighboring cabins bathroom for two mornings straight and our bathroom floor was never without water on it. Well anyway...review please!**


	5. Shiny

**5. Shiny**

Chelsea looked frantically through her garment bag and her then once again through her bag. "Damn it!" she muttered to herself. "I thought I packed it. Where the hell is it!?" she felt through the contents of the pocket in her garment bag again.

"Where is what?" a voice questioned behind her. Chelsea turned to see Caitlin.

"My black shoe shine!" she said quickly.

Caitlin glanced down at Chelsea's drill masters. "You can borrow mine." She said.

"You have shoe shine?" Chelsea asked curiously. Typically Caitlin was the one borrowing her shoe shine.

"Yeah! Shocking isn't it?" she laughed

"Thank God you finally remembered!" Chelsea held her hands out for the shoe polish. Caitlin handed it over as though it was the Holy Grail. Chelsea grabbed it quickly and plopped onto the carpet that covered the floor of the band room. She squeezed the bottle lightly…nothing came out. She applied a little more pressure, but still nothing came out. "Are you kidding me?" She squeezed hard. A large glob of shoe polish burst from the container all over her drillmasters and the carpet. "Ugh!"

Caitlin was laughing hysterically. Karen glanced up at the shout of frustration and laughter. She looked at the mess. "Wow Chelsea…" she threw some paper towels at Chelsea.

"Stupid shoe shine…" Chelsea muttered under her breathe.

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**A/N: I disappeared for awhile, but now i'm back. (cricket...cricket...). Anyway, as I said at the beginning these stories are true stories so yes this did happen. I'm hoping to get six out soon.**


	6. Halloween

**6. Halloween**

"Can't believe we have practice…" Alex grumbled. "It's Halloween for crying out loud."

"Hey…ummm…remember Jules? The person who works our butts off. Since when do we get holidays." Caitlin looked incredulously at Alex.

"Yeah…but…" Alex stammered looking disappointed.

"I never cared much about Halloween anyway." Chelsea chimed in. This statement was obvious. It was the tradition of the high school to hold costume contests and pretty much everyone dressed up. Alex was some person from Moulin Rouge. Caitlin was Dorothy. Paige was some princess fairy. Steven was a wizard from some video game. Chelsea simply wore a shirt reading "This is my costume."

"Really?" Steven asked, "I couldn't tell."

"Hahaha…you're just so funny." Chelsea retorted.

"Well I certainly thought I was." Steven pretended as though he was offended that she'd think otherwise.

"Yeah Steven, your humor always makes things funnier." She smiled knowing that she had hit the nerve.

"Aaaaaah…that's not even funny." Steven shouted.

"Really, cause I thought it was. Funnier." She said again.

"Okay, seriously shut up." he begged.

Before Chelsea could respond, Paige ran into the music library with a large bag. "I come bearing candy!"

"What time is it?" Alex looked up. "I guess we should start or we won't have time to do anything." She reached into the large shopping bag that was sitting next to her and pulled out a tray of cupcakes. Since they couldn't go trick-or-treating due to marching band rehearsal they had decided to hold a mini party of their own to celebrate. "Is Jason coming?"

"He said he'll stop by." Caitlin said eyeing the cupcakes.

"Somebody turn out the lights."

Steven reached up and flipped the switch. The cupcakes were almost completely gone and everyone was out of scary stories. When Paige spoke up, "I have a disturbing ghost story that happened to me."

"This should be good." Chelsea laughed. Paige was more than marching band weird. She had obviously done some drugs in middle school and hung with the wrong crowds so she had some very interesting stories.

"I was raped by a ghost." Paige stated. No sooner had she said this then the door to the music library opened.

A resounding "Ouch" could be heard as the visitor tripped over Steven who had had his back to the door. The lights flickered on. "What the hell?" Karen looked down at the circle of people.

"Halloween party," Alex smiled. "Wanna join? There are cupcakes."

"I just came in to heat up my soup…" Karen glanced around hesitantly. "Hell, why not."

"You came in at the good part," Chelsea informed her. "Paige was just starting to tell us how a ghost raped her."

"Is that even possible?" Karen looked as though she was regretting her decision.

"I don't know. According to Paige it is." Caitlin answered.

"According to Paige a lot of things are possible. I'm sure she's visited Lucy and Diamonds."

"Hey! I never did L.S.D!" Paige crossed her arms defiantly.

Chelsea held up her hands. "Just kidding Paige."

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**A/N: I don't really know what to say in response to the "A ghost raped me" comment other than yes I have weird friends because yes this story in more detail was told. so now I give you the opportunity to write your own thoughts on my weirdo friends in a review.**


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